Klay Thompson played for the Warriors from the year he was drafted – 2011 – through the 2023/24 season. However, former teammate Draymond Green declared on his podcast (hat tip to Taylor Wirth of NBCBayAreaSports) that Thompson would have left the team in free agency much sooner if he hadn’t endured devastating injuries.

Thompson suffered knee and Achilles injuries that wiped away 2 1/2 years of his career.

“Everyone tries to make Klay the guy Klay was after the injuries,” Green said. “I won’t go for that. What I will also say is, [it was] highly likely that after the 2019 playoffs, Klay Thompson was going to leave the Golden State Warriors and go be a No. 1 option somewhere. ,,, Then he got hurt, and so he stayed. But one thing I can assure you, there was a 90 percent chance my brother was going to leave Golden State and go elsewhere and test that No. 1 option thing out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for him and he got hurt and he never got the opportunity to.”

Thompson is now a member of the Heat, signing a two-year deal, after reaching a buyout with the Mavericks.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

• Miles Bridges has averaged 20-plus points during three seasons in his career. Bridges, who was traded to the Suns this offseason, could have just as big an impact on Phoenix’s defense, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes. Bridges has the ability to be an elite defender — versatile enough to guard the 3 and dribble drives to the paint as well as making switches. He can also allow Dillon Brooks to play small forward more often. “Miles is going to be able to give us that size, the agility, and the athleticism to guard the fours,” Brooks said. “It’s going to make me be able to guard some of the wings and the guards, which I like, but it’s interchangeable with me and Miles. I’m going to challenge him to be able to guard guards and challenge him to be able to get out of his comfort zone to be able to make him better so you can guard any position, not only fours and threes, but, guarding guys like Kawhi Leonard to De’Aaron Fox.”
• The Thunder have inked a partnership with locally-owned broadcast company Griffin Media for the upcoming season, according to SI.com. In addition to this partnership, the Thunder have launched a streaming service, Thunder+, where local fans can subscribe and watch every non-nationally exclusive game without any blackout restrictions.
• An LLC controlled by LeBron James borrowed nearly $300MM from two Midwestern life insurers advised by an arm of Guggenheim Partners months before he signed with the Lakers in 2018, according to a Bloomberg report (hat tip to RealGM). The previously unreported bonds are structured against future revenue from James’ endorsement deals, including a lifetime Nike sponsorship, and are not due until 2049. A spokesperson for James described the arrangement as a standard financial structure for high-earning individuals.